Customer Reviews

You Shine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is made for personal listening.

Even though this is largely a solo-sounding effort,
there is no ego here. The entire album is worship
centric.

Faithful One is my favourite song on this album.

I highly recommend requesting this song on a
Christian music station...I thought it was worth
the price of the entire album alone.

Again, the lack of any ego on the part of the artist
was striking. He sings as if his audience is in Heaven,
as opposed to sitting in front of him. I think
that is why the album works on a personal level.

If you're a worship leader, the congregation might have
difficulty singing along, but when you're driving around
in your car, or sitting alone on a sofa, it's pretty near
perfect, in my humble opinion.

I've read many reviews for this album, and nobody's touched the two top tracks on it--the title song "You Shine," and the anthemic "Hope of the Nations." That one knocked my socks off the first time I heard it, which was the first time I attended the church I now go to most Sundays. Our music director gave me Doerksen's second album, "To-Day," but I'm going to buy this one. Both "Hope of th Nations," and "You SHine," are highly singable songs with a terrific message. Doerksen's voice is endlessly listenable, like many others in the genre--Michael W. Smith, Don Mowen, Paul Baloche. But there's room for plenty to sing this style in this in-your-face world full of '"music makers" whose music ought to be reserved for deaf people.

Biran Doerksen is one of the foremost worship music writers of our day. He is honest, expressive and right on the money for putting words to music that allow us to worship God in whatever place we might find ourselves in. There is some classic material from his days at Vineyard (sorry to see him go!) and some new material that is just right there as far as meeting the needs of churhces who seek to use the contemporary style with with to worship. This is definetly a must-have for any worship leader and you will not be dissappointed if you are seeking something to help you worship at home or in the car.

While I would concur with another reviewer on the set possibly being a bit over-arranged, it does evoke a worshipful response and the songs are just great for congregational worship settings even without the excellent musicians that are obviously on this CD.

Maybe it's because of his low-key personality that you don't hear Brian Doerksen's name on every gospel corner, but on this CD (and on his new one "Today") Brian strikes me as a top-class performer with a very warm hart for his Lord. One of the top songs i find Psalm 13, which Brian sings with Daphne Rademakers. I'm sure David would have loved the music around his old prayer-song. Very nice.

Brian Doerksen has put out a lot a great worship music over the years with the Vineyard Music Group. He continues that with his first release for Integrity's Hosanna series. New offerings such as the title song, "Psalm 13 (How Long O Lord)", and "With All My Affection" are mixed among older favorites such as "I Lift My Eyes Up" and "Come, Now Is the Time to Worship" (the latter of which is burdened with an additional verse, which, in my opinion, does not improve the song). Doerksen's music gets the "Hosanna" treatment, by which I mean much of the music is over-arranged, which is not a problem for listening but takes a little work to make it usable in congregational settings. There is too much "worship leader solos on the verse, congregation joins in on the chorus" stuff which, to me, has plagued Hosanna recordings in recent years. Worship music in the congregation is not meant to primarily be a soloists showcase. Nevertheless, the material is strong enough to overcome these shortcomings (and I come from the viewpoint of a worship leader) and rate 4 stars.